Thursday, 31 May 2012

The shadow justice minister
has criticised as ‘self-serving’ performance data released on the company
contracted to provide court interpreters. The data, published by the Ministry
of Justice last week, revealed that hundreds of cases were still being
disrupted by a shortage of interpreters three months into the contract.

Applied Language Solutions
(ALS) took over the provision of interpreters to courts in February under a
contract which aims to cut costs by a third. Members of several groups
representing professional interpreters are refusing to work with the Capita-owned
company.

The performance data reveal that from 30 January to 30 April ALS provided an
interpreter in 81% of the cases where courts requested one. Its performance
target was 98%. There were 26,059 requests for interpreters at courts and
tribunals in England and Wales, covering 142 languages in the period.

Overall ‘fulfilment’ rate
for requests increased from 65% in February to 90% in April, with success rates
varying between 58-95% for the 20 most requested languages.

The figures were given to
the MoJ by ALS, and verified by ‘spot checks’ carried out by the courts
service, the MoJ said.

Andy Slaughter said this week that the figures were ‘substantially self-serving’. Even so, he
added, they indicate ‘meltdown’ from day one, and show that hundreds of
hearings are still being disrupted. He said the figures failed to quantify
knock-on costs of the failures to provide interpreters: ‘In some incidences,
where people have been detained unnecessarily in custody overnight or where
Crown court trials have been adjourned, those costs could run into thousands of
pounds.’

An MoJ spokesman said: ‘We
have seen a significant and sustained improvement in performance. We continue
to monitor the improvement on a daily basis.’

Wednesday, 30 May 2012

It
was a bad week for solicitor-general Edward Garnier, starting with a
ticking-off from the speaker for his “eccentric” habit of turning his back on
the House while he was trying to reassure MPs concerned about the state of the
monopoly contract on foreign language interpreting in the courts (Eyes passim).

“The
contract with Applied Language Solutions [ALS] is now running properly, he
insisted. “The company has got a grip on it and we can expect nothing but
progress from here on.”

Whoops!
Not only did the roof of Garnier’s Stockwell townhouse collapsed later in the
week, but official Ministry of Justice figures published on Thursday reveal the
extent of ALS’s failures to supply an interpreter in thousands of cases.
Between 30 January and 30 April, the Capita-owned firm failed to provide an
interpreter 19 percent of the time, out of more than 23,000 instances where the
court asked for one.

At
one point during that period the “success rate” (ie cases where ALS actually
sent someone) had dropped to 69 percent of tribunal cases and 58 percent of
court cases. By the end of April it had crept up to 90 percent – still a poor
showing against the 98 percent target in the contract and still far from
“running properly”. Of the 2,232 complaints about ALS reported to the ministry,
44 percent were about no-shows.

Even
when it does send along an interpreter, ALS continues to cause problems for
courts. In Leeds recently, Judge Batty halted a sham marriage trial to ask why
the ALS-supplied Slovak interpreter had stopped interpreting for the defendant
and it discovered that it was because she couldn’t understand what defence
counsel was saying.

The
case was only able to continue because one of the qualified interpreters
boycotting ALS was observing from the public gallery and volunteered to step
in.

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

The Judiciary has begun to
speak out against the private contract for court interpreting awarded by the
Ministry of Justice to Applied Language Solutions, owned by Capita, which came
into operation on 30th January 2012.

In the meantime the
additional costs of trial adjournments due to shortages of interpreters in the
first three months of the contract have prompted Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of
the Public Accounts Committee, to forward her concerns to the National Audit
Office, asking them to look into the Framework Agreement (FWA) from a value for
money perspective. The Justice Select Committee has also stated it is likely to
review the matter.

David Radford, Resident
Judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court (writing in the May issue of the London
Advocate) says: “We have been badly affected by the change to one contractor”.
He goes onto say of the contract: “It was introduced without the full board
approval of Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals service, including the judicial
representatives. I believe the contract is now being monitored on a weekly
basis.”

Concerns from other judges
have been published elsewhere, including Yorkshire Evening Post. Judge
Christopher Batty at Leeds Crown Court on 4th May announced he would make a
formal complaint when he had to dismiss a Slovak interpreter, booked by ALS,
because she could not understand what was going on in the case of a sham
marriage gang.

Barrister Tariq Rehman from
Birmingham Chambers was acting for one of the five defendants and witnessed the
proceedings, which were saved from being abandoned when a volunteer
interpreter, who is boycotting the new system, stepped in from the public
gallery to help. He says:
“The bottom line, as far as I am concerned as a barrister, is that this is
typical of the Minister of Justice not interested at all in the slightest as to
whether the change of course is going to compromise the service and quality as
long as they are going to save money. This was not an isolated incident; I have
seen it elsewhere as well.”

A London Barrister, Kevin
Metzger from Grays Inn Square, says: “It’s all about fairness and the
principles of Common Law and natural justice – if you don’t understand what’s
being said about you or you can’t explain yourself, the principal of fairness
goes out the window. I really think that the authorities ought to look very
carefully at the cost cutting because it will end up bringing our system of
justice into disrepute.”

He added: “What is sad is
that we have prided ourselves on a system of justice that the whole world has
looked up to and we have now got ourselves into a situation where we could be
accused of merely paying lip service to it.”

Chaotic
start for company that clinched multimillion pound deal to provide translators
for courts and inquests

The company that clinched the multimillion pound deal to provide
translators for courts and inquests is being monitored daily after a chaotic
start to its contract, the Ministry of Justice said today.

Applied Language Solutions (ALS) has come under fire after repeated
complaints about interpreters failing to turn up and money wasted through court
delays and cancellations.

There have also been several farcical moments, including a judge
ordering a retrial of a burglary prosecution after a Romanian interpreter
confused the words “beaten” and “bitten”.

ALS was set a 98 per cent success rate by the MoJ, which was defined by
a translator turning up to a job and completing it.

According to MoJ figures today, it had achieved 65 per cent in February,
82 per cent in March and 90 per cent in April.

ALS was founded in 2003 by Gavin Wheeldon, who launched the company out
of his back bedroom. He appeared on BBC2’s Dragon’s Den, unsuccessfully
attempting to persuade its entrepreneurs to invest in his firm. Despite that
setback, it now has 130 full-time staff and an annual turnover of more than
£10m.

When it won the contract, it argued that it would cut the £60m yearly
cost of providing translators by one-third.

An MoJ spokesman said yesterday: “We continue to monitor performance on
a daily basis.

“However, the contract is now delivering an effective service and we
expect to see improvements in the coming months.”

He added: “There are now only a tiny handful of cases each day when an
interpreter job is unfilled. Disruption to court business and complaints have
reduced substantially.”

Over the three-month period ALS received 26,059 requests for translators
covering 142 languages. Four languages accounted for more than a third of
requests: Polish, Romanian, Urdu and Lithuanian.

Three months into its
contract to provide court interpreters Applied Language Solutions (ALS) was not
meeting its performance targets, statistics published today reveal. Data
provided to the Ministry of Justice by ALS, showed that from 30 January to 30
April 2012, ALS provided an interpreter in 81% of the cases where courts
requested one. Its performance target was 98%.

In the first three months
of the contract, there were 26,059 requests for interpreters at courts and
tribunals in England and Wales, covering 142 languages. Of the initial
requests, 2,825 (11%) were either cancelled by the court, or the person who
made the request failed to attend. These figures are not included in the
fulfillment numbers.

The figures show that the
overall success rate for requests increased from 65% in February to 90% in
April, with success rates varying between 58-95% for the 20 most requested
languages at all courts, and between 69-94% at tribunals.

There were 2,232 complaints
relating to the requests during the period. The complaints, categorised by ALS,
show that 44% were due to interpreters not attending, 23% were due to
‘operational issues’ and 3% concerned the quality of the interpreter.

Four languages - Polish,
Romanian, Urdu and Lithuanian - accounted for over a third of all language
requests.

A Ministry of Justice
spokesperson said: 'We have now seen a significant and sustained improvement in
performance. There are now only a tiny handful of cases each day when an
interpreter job is unfilled. Disruption to court business and complaints have
reduced substantially and close to 3,000 interpreters are now working under
this contract. We continue to monitor the improvement on a daily basis.'

Earlier this week the
solicitor general Edward Garnier QC told the House of Commons that the contract
with ALS ‘is now running properly’. He said: ‘The company has got a grip on it
and we can expect nothing but progress from here on.’

MOJ
to monitor court interpreters after one in ten fail to turn up or get
translation wrong

The
company tasked with providing translators to courts and tribunals will be
monitored daily after failing to meet targets, the Ministry of Justice said
today.

Applied Language Solutions (ALS) was 8 per cent off target from January
to April this year after recently landing the contract.

ALS was set a 98 per cent success rate - measured on an interpreter
turning up to the job and completing it.

MoJ figures released today showed the firm had increased its success
rate from 65 per cent in February to 90 per cent in April.

An MoJ spokesman said: ''We continue to monitor performance on a daily
basis.

''However, the contract is now delivering an effective service and we
expect to see improvements in the coming months.''

The spokesman added: ''We have now seen a significant and sustained
improvement in performance.

''There are now only a tiny handful of cases each day when an
interpreter job is unfilled.

''Disruption to court business and complaints have reduced substantially
and close to 3,000 interpreters are now working under this contract.

''We continue to monitor the improvement on a daily basis.''

The MoJ said the definitions of whether interpreters completed or not
were decided by the company itself.

The deal with ALS has come under fire after repeated complaints about
interpreters failing to turn up, wasting taxpayers' money through court delays
and cancellations.

The company had claimed its contract, which started formally on February
1, would save the Government £60 million over five years.

But many interpreters said they had boycotted the firm in reaction to
low rates of pay, claiming that led to a struggle by ALS to recruit
translators, and prompting the use of untrained people in courts.

The MoJ also issued figures on interpreting services in court following
the launch of a controversial private contract in January.

They show that Applied Language Solutions (ALS) was still failing to
meet its contract targets three months after it took over responsibility for
providing interpreters to all courts in England and Wales.

The firm's contract with the MoJ requires it to supply interpreters for
98% of all court and tribunal bookings.

In February, the firm had a success rate of only 65%, though that had
risen to 90% by April. There were 2,232 complaints about language services over
the first three months of the year.

The report is released by the Ministry of Justice and produced in
accordance with arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Introduction

The data presented in this bulletin are for face-to-face language
services provided to HM Courts and Tribunals Service made and completed between
the start of the national language services framework on 30 January 2012 and 30
April 2012. Request made before 30 January were part of the pilot phase, and
are not reported here. Requests are made in advance and may be subject to
adjournment, delays or cancellation.

Main findings

Number of requests for
language services

Between 30 January 2012 and 30 April 2012 there were 26,059 requests for
language services covering 142 different languages.

The majority of these, 53% involved criminal cases, 39% were for
tribunal cases, and the remaining 8% for civil or family cases.

The Courts and Tribunal Service cancelled or failed to attend 11% of
requests.

Of the remaining 23,234 request, the contractor Applied Language
Solutions were able to fulfil 18,719 or 81% of the assignments.

However, presenting a single quarterly figure hides a very marked trend
over the three months of increasing success rates for requests for translators.
In February, the success rate was 65%, increasing to 82% in March and 90% in
April.

Four languages: Polish, Romanian, Urdu and Lithuanian account for more
than a third of all language requests received. However, the pattern different
in courts (where Polish was the most frequently requested language with 3,152
requests) compared to tribunals (where Urdu was the most frequently requested
language with1,080 requests).

For the 20 most requested languages, the success rates vary from 58% to
95%. The lowest success rates are for Latvian, Lithuanian and Vietnamese at
courts and Tamil at tribunals.

(1) what meetings he has had with representatives of court interpreters
on changes to funding of interpretation services;

(2) what meetings he has had with representatives of (a) ethnic
minorities and (b) the police on changes to funding for court
interpreters.

Crispin Blunt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Prisons and Probation),
Justice; Reigate, Conservative)

The Secretary of State for Justice has not met with representative
interpreter groups however the Ministry sought interpreters' views on the
industry during a series of four road shows during late 2009; met various
stakeholders in August and September 2010 and consulted key interested parties,
including the police, on the proposed framework agreement as part of the
procurement process and received a wide range of views in response. Now that
the framework agreement has been implemented the Ministry continues to receive,
consider and respond to correspondence from interested parties and groups.

In accordance with our obligations under the Equality Act 2010 the
Department and Ministers had due regard to the public sector equality duty
before making changes to interpretation services and published a full equality
impact assessment. Following this, the Ministry has not received any requests
for meetings with ethnic minority group.

The Solicitor-General has rejected calls for an
investigation into a Saddleworth company which provides interpreting and translating
services for courts.

Last year Applied Language Solutions won a five-year
Government contract to provide translation and interpreting services for the
police and courts.

But the deal with the Ministry of Justice, which was
expected to save £18 million a year, has been criticised in the Commons by
Labour.

Analysis

During Commons questions to the Attorney General,
Labour’s Shadow Justice Minister Andy Slaughter said: “Reports from the media,
the courts and interpreters themselves show, contrary to his briefing, that
problems with Applied Language Solutions are getting worse not better.

“The Ministry of Justice is intending to publish its
analysis of their performance this week, based on data we understand collected
by ALS themselves.

“So will the Law Officers conduct their own
investigation of the collapse of interpreting and translating service in our
courts, one that will put the interests of justice before the self-serving interests
of the Ministry of Justice and its contractor.”

Solicitor General Edward Garnier refused to
investigate Delph-based ALS and said the contract was working well.

Yes, that is a bit
of an industrial dispute. Well, it’s a bit of an industrial dispute. We are […]
we thought it was completely out of control the expenditure on the
interpretation service we therefore... that is why we went out to contract to try to
systemise it and really get our costs under control and actually it’s people
who interpret in particular languages who’ve got upset about the impact on
their potential income... so I am not closely involved but at the moment I am
looking at that and thinking this is largely an industrial relations dispute
and pay and conditions dispute which I hope will soon be resolved and it is
getting better.

See Hear takes an in-depth look at the current state of interpreter
services in the UK. Has the ongoing economic crisis led to a fall in standards
and, as an integral part of life for the deaf community, are people getting the
quality of service and standards they require?

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

If he will assess the effect on the cost of prosecutions of delays
caused by the absence of an interpreter.

Edward Garnier (Solicitor General; Harborough, Conservative)

The CPS has no central records on the cost of court delays caused by the
absence of an interpreter, but common sense tells me that such delays resulting
from the absence of a necessary interpreter waste time and money.

Nicholas Dakin (Scunthorpe, Labour)

Apparently, Jajo the rabbit is now a registered interpreter and
translator. Does the Solicitor-General agree that that latest embarrassment
illustrates the utter shambles that the contracting out of the interpreter and
translator service has become?

Edward Garnier (Solicitor General; Harborough, Conservative)

It was a joke and, even if it was not a joke, he has been deregistered.

Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed, Liberal Democrat)

What discussions is the Solicitor-General having with his colleagues in
the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the contract provisions are carefully
examined and, if necessary, penalties are imposed if the service is not up to
the standard required?

Edward Garnier (Solicitor General; Harborough, Conservative)

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. I discussed that matter only this
morning with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice and am assured by the Under-Secretary
of State for Justice, my hon. Friend Mr Blunt, that the contract with Applied
Language Solutions is now running properly. The company has got a grip on it
and we can expect nothing but progress from here on.

John Bercow (Speaker)

So that we get the full benefit of the Solicitor-General’s eloquence, perhaps
he could—

Edward Garnier (Solicitor General; Harborough, Conservative)

Shall I repeat the answer?

John Bercow (Speaker)

I do not think that that will be necessary, but perhaps in future the
hon. and learned Gentleman would face the House. We would all be greatly
obliged.

Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith, Labour)

It is my pleasure to stand in for the shadow Attorney-General, my hon.
Friend Emily Thornberry—I understand that she has informed the
Attorney-General, if not the Solicitor-General. Reports from the media, the
courts and interpreters themselves show that, contrary to the
Solicitor-General’s briefing, problems with ALS are getting worse, not better.
The MOJ intends to publish its analysis of ALS’s performance this week, based
on data that I understand were collected by ALS itself. Will the Law Officers
conduct their own investigation of the collapse of the interpreting and translating
service in our courts, one that will put the interests of justice before the
self-serving interests of the Ministry of Justice and its contractor?

Edward Garnier (Solicitor General; Harborough, Conservative)

No, I genuinely do not believe that to be necessary, and I think that
the hon. Gentleman has been misinformed. The ALS contract is working well. If
he knows of any particular instances where it is not, no doubt he will tell the
Ministry of Justice about them, but I think I am prepared to believe my hon.
Friends in the MOJ a little bit before I believe him.

Stephen Phillips (Sleaford and North Hykeham, Conservative)

What mechanisms exist for the CPS to communicate concerns with regard to
the quality of interpretation both to the Law Officers and, indeed, to the Ministry
of Justice?

Edward Garnier (Solicitor General; Harborough, Conservative)

The CPS can tell us; my hon. and learned Friend can tell us; he can tell
the Ministry of Justice; we can tell the Ministry of Justice—[Interruption.]

John Bercow (Speaker)

The demeanour of the Solicitor-General is eccentric. I cannot account
for how he performs in Her Majesty’s courts, but in the Chamber it would be
helpful if he looked in the direction of the generality of Members.

Rethink prompted after solicitors resort to Google
Translate to understand their clients

A defendant dubbed a
"pervert" by mistake, a rabbit applying to be a Czech language
specialist and solicitors using the Google Translate website to understand
their clients: the debacle surrounding court interpreters has had its amusing
moments.

Now the situation has
apparently become so serious that both the Commons Justice Select Committee and
the National Audit Office have confirmed that they may investigate the new
private contract.

In February, the Ministry
of Justice decided to replace the ad hoc system under which interpreters were
hired as and when needed. They hoped a single private contract with Applied
Language Solutions (ALS) would slash the £60m annual bill by a third.

The decision led to a
boycott by many interpreters, outraged at what they described as "woefully
inadequate" wages from ALS, which is owned by the support services company
Capita. The result has been a host of adjourned trials and some that have
collapsed. A retrial was ordered three days into a burglary case at Snaresbrook
Crown Court in east London when it emerged that the Romanian interpreter had
muddled the words "beaten" and "bitten".

Judge David Radford, who
presides at Snaresbrook, said recently that some cases had been "badly
affected".

In April, the barrister Andrew
Dallas said it might be quicker for him to learn Czech when an interpreter
failed to turn up at Bradford Crown Court to translate for his client, who was
accused of attempted murder.

In another case, a
Vietnamese translator was told to make a 560-mile round-trip from Newcastle for
an eight-minute hearing at South-East Suffolk Magistrates' Court. Solicitors at
the court in Ipswich complained that they were sometimes forced to use the
internet to translate.

Neil Saunders, who was
defending a Vietnamese client accused of growing cannabis, said no translator
turned up at four previous hearings. "Farcical is not the right word. It's
actually a tragedy," he said.

In other examples, a man
charged with perverting justice was told he was "a pervert", while a
volunteer had to be pulled from the public gallery to translate for a Slovak
defendant. To make a point, a Czech interpreter, Marie Adamova, applied to
register her rabbit, Jajo, with ALS. He was promptly sent a dozen emails by the
company.

Last week, the National
Register of Public Service Interpreters told the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke:
"The concerns we referred to in February have not gone away. Indeed, the
position now appears to be worsening almost daily, to the detriment of both
professional interpreters and, equally importantly in our view, to the
efficient and fair administration of public service across most of the justice
sector."

A spokesman for ALS said
yesterday: "ALS is happy to co-operate fully with any review though has
not, to date, been approached on that basis by any of the bodies
mentioned."

The Ministry of Justice
insisted: "We have now seen a sustained improvement in performance. There
are now only a tiny handful of cases each day when an interpreter job is
unfilled.

"Disruption to court
business and complaints have reduced significantly. Close to 3,000 interpreters
are now working under this contract."

(1) how many (a) tier 1, (b) tier 2 and (c) tier 3
interpreters have been supplied by Applied Language Solutions for (i) Crown
court and (ii) magistrates court hearings since the beginning of its contract
with his Department; and if he will make a statement;

(2) what proportion of interpreters supplied by Applied Language
Solutions are registered with the National Register of Public Service
Interpreters; and if he will make a statement;

(3) how many wasted costs applications were (a) lodged and (b)
granted due to interpretation failures in (i) 2009, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2011;
and if he will make a statement;

(4) how many wasted costs applications were (a) lodged and (b)
granted against Applied Language Solutions due to interpretation failures since
the beginning of its contract with his Department; and if he will make a
statement.

Crispin Blunt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Prisons and Probation),
Justice; Reigate, Conservative)

Under the contract for interpretation and translation services it is for
Applied Language Solutions to provide interpreters at the appropriate tier to
meet the requirements of each booking. The Ministry does not hold information
on the tiering status of individual interpreters, their qualifications, or what
organisations they are members of Those are matters for the contractor. The
Ministry has announced that it intends to publish statistics on the use of
interpreters on 24 May.

Decisions about whether to make wasted costs orders and third party
costs orders are at the discretion of the court. Information about the number
of cases where wasted costs have been considered is not collected centrally by
the Ministry.

“What we had today was a
room full of passionate interpreters who care about standards and access. Who
have earned very little money in the last three months. Who understand that to
work for this contract is to put nails in the proverbial coffin of our
profession.”

The deal between the
Ministry of Justice and the private company contracted to provide court
interpreters is to face scrutiny from parliamentary watchdogs, as cases
continue to be disrupted by poor performance and non-attendance of
interpreters.

Public spending watchdog
the National Audit Office told the Gazette that it has received ‘a
number of representations’ about the Applied Language Solutions contract from
parties including members of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, and said it
is ‘considering the matter’.

Meanwhile the Commons
Justice Committee said it has received correspondence and is likely to ‘pursue
the matter’, either as a standalone project or as part of a wider examination
of the court service. In March, the committee questioned Peter Handcock, head
of the court services, on the contract and what could happen if performance
levels, which in its first week were quantified at just 40%, did not improve.

Committee chair Sir Alan
Beith told the Gazette that it is ‘subjecting to scrutiny the performance
of the contract’, taking up with Handcock criticisms of interpreters’
attendance and quality. ‘We’ve put questions in writing to [Handcock] to find
out records of the number of adjournments etc, what feedback they have had
about the contract, the qualifications required by the interpreters and the
fulfilment of the contract,’ said Beith.

Meanwhile, the resident
judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court, David Radford, alleged that the contractual
arrangements had been ‘introduced without the full board approval of Her
Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service, including the judicial representatives’.

In an interview with the
London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, he said the change to one
contractor to provide interpreters, rather than courts individually booking
interpreters from a national register, had ‘badly affected’ his own court.
Radford said the MoJ did not ‘sufficiently have in mind the whole country’ when
the new arrangements were rolled out nationally after a pilot on the northern
circuit.

The contract, awarded to
Oldham-based ALS, began on 1 February. It is intended to cut the MoJ’s £60m
annual spend on interpreters by £18m. Weeks after the contract was awarded, ALS
was acquired by support services company Capita.

Many interpreters who had
provided their services directly to the courts under the old regime have
refused to work for ALS, citing concerns over fees and quality of service.

“Previously,
courts were able to select interpreters from the National Register of Public
Service Interpreters (NRPSI). However, since ALS were awarded the Government
contract to provide all court interpreting services in January 2012, there have
been numerous stories of long delays and instances where interpreters were
late, underprepared, underqualified or failed to turn up at all. This has
resulted in a number of hearings being adjourned and could lead to legal
challenges and miscarriages of justice.

“I met with interpreters
from the West Midlands at my surgery who gave me a dossier of evidence which
raises concerns about the administration of justice as a result of the
substandard nature of the service provided by ALS. I have today written to the
Lord Chancellor and enclosed this dossier. I urge him to act on the findings.”

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Constituents of mine who are interpreters have given me a dossier about
Applied Language Solutions and its failings. Court hearings have been adjourned
and costs have been incurred. Will the Minister update the House on what action
he is taking against ALS—for breach of contract?

Crispin Blunt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Prisons and Probation),
Justice; Reigate, Conservative)

On 24 May, we will publish a full statistical analysis of the
performance of ALS up to 30 April. Since the contract went national after a
successful regional pilot in the north-west on 30 January, there were significant
problems with the exercise of that contract, both related to the administration
by ALS and to the attitude of interpreters engaging with ALS. I am pleased to
be able to report to the House that the performance of ALS and its owner Capita
has considerably improved in this area. The position has improved further since
30 April, and it is achieving very nearly now the performance required under
the contract.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of hearings or
trials requiring interpreters have been delayed due to Applied Language
Solutions not providing an interpreter in the last year.

Crispin Blunt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Prisons and Probation), Justice;
Reigate, Conservative)

Full implementation of the contract with Applied Language Solutions
commenced on 30 January 2012. There were an unacceptable number of problems in
the first weeks of full implementation of the contract, however the Government
took swift action to require improvements and performance has now improved
significantly.

Information on the number of hearings or trials delayed due to problems
with the new interpretation and translation contract is not available. The
Chief Statistician for the Ministry of Justice has already announced plans to
publish statistics on the use of interpreters in courts on 24 May 2012.

We’ve kept off the problems
with the UK government contract for interpreters and translators up to now
because it has been pretty well covered by the mainstream media. But we’ve got
another angle on it now, so to recap; the Ministry of Justice let a contract
last year to Applied Language Solutions (ALS), a relatively small firm, to
provide interpreters to the English and Wales Courts Service.

But they appear to have won
the contract by promising large savings that replied on them reducing the price
paid to the actual people who provide the services – who work as independents
in the main. Those staff have not surprisingly been less than happy on occasion
to see their rates halved or worse, so ALS have struggled at times to meet the
service levels required.

Then, to add a bit more
spice, Capita acquired ALS, which excited publications such as the Guardian and
Private Eye who it’s fair to say don’t have a great affection for that firm! So
the whole episode raises some pertinent questions about good procurement
practice, to which we’ll return on another day. But we’ve now learnt of another
twist.

Capita provide a
procurement service to Southampton City Council on an outsourced service basis.
Now, Southampton are running a tender for translation services, and guess what
– ALS, a Capita firm, are bidding for it!

It appears that Southampton
suddenly realised that this might cause a few issues, so they communicated with
the other bidders to assure them that all steps would be taken to make sure
things would be done properly to ensure fairness. the Council told bidders that
processes, barriers, disciplines and confidentiality undertakings would be put
in place to ensure there was no conflict of interest or inappropriate
disclosure of information within Capita.

But then the Council went
on to say to bidders:

“By confirming your intention to respond to this PQQ you acknowledge the
involvement of the above members of the Capita Group in this procurement and
confirm your acceptance of the adequacy of the measures put in place by
Southampton City Council”.

So if you’re not happy with
the propriety of our process, you’re out of the tender. That seems perilously
close to something not very appropriate at all, and we’re not sure that’s the
best way to handle the issue.

Personally, I don’t think
I’d let Capita anywhere near management of the procurement process if they’re
also a bidder. If the Council doesn’t have the resource to do the procurement,
get another independent firm/ consultant in to run that particular exercise. Or
someone from Portsmouth council….But it just seems too incestuous otherwise.

Friday, 11 May 2012

Unpaid
translators angry as owner of firm which went bust sets up new linguistic firm

Angry
translators have hit out after being left out of pocket when a Birmingham
business went bust - only to see the firm's director set up another translation
firm.

They
are furious that ALS (UK) director Hayder Al-Ani bought the company’s assets
from the liquidators, setting up a new translation firm Convocco.

Translation
and interpreting company ALS (UK), based in Edgbaston, issued a meeting of
creditors notice in March after the Refugee Migrant Justice and the Immigration
Advisory Service charities closed down after Government funding cuts, owing ALS
£80,000.

According
to ALS this was almost a quarter of its £350,000 annual turnover – leaving it
unable to repay £98,000 of debts to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs and a
£20,000 personal loan to Barclays Bank owed by director Hayder Al-Ani.

After
discussion with advisor Jason Langford-Brown of Lucid, ALS entered into a
creditors’ voluntary liquidation and appointed joint liquidators Craig Povey
and Kevin Murphy of Chantrey Vellacott DFK.

Mr
Al-Ani, from Walmley, bought the assets of ALS from the liquidators, and set up
Convocco, which had been incorporated in February.

Polish
translator Marcin Piechota, said: “The first project I did for ALS was back in
August 2011 – it was a proof-reading task for just €10.

“I
never received this money but I was happy to work on translation jobs in
August, September, October and December. I never got paid, but instead I
received a number of promises and excuses.

“I
finally received a message saying ‘I am emailing you to inform you that ALS
(UK) has gone into administration and all interpreting/translation debts are
being dealt with by the administrators, please contact them with any queries as
Convocco are not legally liable for your fees’.

“I
was astonished to find out that the ‘new’ company owns the same website, the
same phone helpline and that the same people are working there.

"Having
received a letter from their administrators and seeing all the debts they had,
I do not hold out much hope to receive my money.

“But
I have learnt my lesson.”

Mr
Al-Ani has also been a director of Al-Ta’i Linguistic Support, the previous
incarnation of ALS, which is in liquidation, and Alfayahaa Multimedia
Production, which is dissolved.

On
an internet forum at least six translators have complained about non-payment
for hundreds of pounds of work done.

Following
a Freedom of Information request by Czech translator Jakub Skrebsky, Birmingham
City Council revealed there had been a “one-off contract” and “invoices were
paid” for work done by Convocco in March this year and to ALS from November
2007 to February 2012 and Al-T’Ai Linguistic Support from October 2007 to
February 2008.

A
spokesman for the council said: “It is the job of a court to determine whether
the owners of a company are unfit to run it, and can disqualify them from being
a director.

“The
city council enters into a number of small one-off purchases and contracts
throughout its directorates, and when hard evidence is gained that contractual
practices are not being adhered to it will thoroughly investigate.’’

Mr
Al-Ani said: “We were forced to go into liquidation because we were owed money
by two really big organisations. We could not pay all our debts and some
translators were left unpaid. It is still a viable business. We have done
nothing wrong. It is just the nature of business in this climate.”

Mr
Povey said: “Hayder’s decision to acquire the assets of ALS from the
liquidators represented the very best return for creditors whose interests we
were appointed to represent.’’